The Taming of Bella Swan
by julesames
Summary: 10 Things I Hate About You. Edward is the teen rebel, Bella the all attitude, cynical girl who everyone steers clear of. All the boys want Rosalie- Bella’s sister- including Emmett who is crazy in love with her. Problem? She can’t date until Bella does.
1. Macbeth

**Chapter 1: Macbeth**

**Authors Note:**

**So I started a new story. MistyFate had an awesome idea over at the Twilight idea exchange on livejournal, using Bella and Edward in a take on of '10 Things I Hate About You' & 'The Taming of the Shrew'. So I thought I'd give it a go.**

**Thanks to MistyFate for betaing this chapter and for helping me so, so much. **

**I don't own Twilight, or Shakespeare, or 10 Things I Hate About You. That's my disclaimer, and it's the only one I'm going to give. **

**The Taming of Bella Swan**

**Chapter One - **_**Macbeth**_

Loud and angry music blasted through the speakers of my stereo as I beat the crap out of the cushioned punching bag that swayed back and forth in front of me. Sweat poured down my brow and small droplets mixed in with my angry tears.

My fists connected with the bag in time to the beat that pounded through the room. I could imagine his face instead of the bag, taunting me, begging me to beat the living crap out of him. So I did. Five strikes in a row connected with the swinging bag and then a high kick that sent it swinging higher.

My breaths came in loud pants and I bent over trying to gain back some control, the session had certainly made me feel a bit better. I no longer felt the need to punch the next person that looked at me funny in the face.

"Wow, _Bells_," Jake said as he approached me, though he looked cautious. "Who pissed you off?"

I scowled. "Don't call me _Bells_, you know I hate it."

He laughed and grabbed onto the bag to still the backward and forward motions.

I walked across the enclosed space, ignoring Jake who was by my side now. I undressed my fists from their wraps and grimaced as I noticed one of the scabs on my knuckles had split open again. I grabbed my towel from the bench and wiped my brow with it, ridding myself of the sweat caused by an hour-long session of intensive kicking ass. Well, not literally, but in my mind I was. I switched the stereo off and picked up my iPod from its docking station.

My shrink had recommended, among other things, taking out my anger issues on a punching bag; and Charlie, my dad and our small town's Chief of Police, had been all for it - hoping to direct my energies onto something that wasn't so hard to damage.

He'd hung the bag in our garage for me three months ago and it turned out that I enjoyed it quite a lot, and it worked a bit too.

"I'm impressed," Jake said happily and I looked sideways at him. "You haven't been in a fight for, what? Two weeks now?"

I snorted. I no longer got into scuffles just for the fun of it, not like before. Now I only ever took my anger out on people when they pissed me off and deserved to be taken down a notch.

"Yeah, something like that." I picked up my water bottle and unscrewed the cap. Jake watched me curiously as I downed half the bottle before coming up for air.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked me. Jake was my best friend, for all intents and purposes. I'd known him my whole life, and he was the only one that could put up with me.

"Nah," I said and shrugged. "It's nothing, just someone at school who doesn't know how to keep their mouth shut. I'd be happy to show him how… but for some reason, I don't think Charlie would approve."

"Or the principal," he told me with a chuckle. "Didn't he say he'd expel you if you got into another altercation?"

"Yeah, it was along those lines," I said, grinning as I threw the wet towel over my shoulder. "Come on, you staying for dinner?"

"Nah." He shook his head. "My sister's in town, and now I gotta do the family thing."

He followed me to the front of the house where his car was parked in the driveway, and I waved goodbye as he got into his VW Rabbit to drive home.

As I walked into the house, I found my sister, Rosalie, and my dad having an argument of sorts. This was really nothing new, so I bypassed them and started to walk up the stairs.

"Bella!" Rosalie called after me but I ignored her. She sounded upset about something. Maybe Charlie refused to give her money for a pair of new shoes, or-

"Bella," Charlie interrupted my thoughts. I sighed and turned, halfway up the stairs. They were standing at the bottom, looking up at me. Rosalie had her arms crossed over her chest. She glared up at me. Charlie looked tired and like he had no idea what to do.

"What?" I asked them, irritated; I wanted to take a shower. I stunk like a pig.

"Rosalie wants to go on a date," Charlie explained. I raised an eyebrow. _What else is new?_ Charlie had a 'no dating' rule in the house that I was perfectly fine with, considering there was no one at the school who'd want to go on a date with me anyway. I was way too scary.

"So?" I asked, prompting him to continue so that I could take that shower. I also had a heap of homework that I wanted to get started on.

"I've made a new rule," he said, he looked proud of himself. Rosalie huffed, angrily beside him.

He jabbed a thumb at Rosalie. "She can date…" he explained, moving his finger to point at me. "When you date."

"Okay, whatever." I knew this would infuriate Rosalie as she wanted nothing more than to be able to go to the school dance with that dim-witted guy she liked, Royce. I happened to know Royce was a first class asshole, and that she was way better off without him.

"Come on, Dad!" Rosalie whined. I turned to head back upstairs, glad to have the conversation over with. I really wanted that shower.

"She's never going to date, nobody can stand her!"

_Oh gee, thanks._

"I'll be single for the rest of my _life!_"

_Talk about melodramatic. _

Luckily, the arguing voices from downstairs were drowned out by the spray of my hot shower.

Rosalie spent the evening trying to convince me to tell Dad that I was going on a date just so that she could go to the movies with Royce. When I flat out refused, she sulked and told me I was the worst sister in the world.

"Bella, please, why can't you just tell Dad you're going out with some guy for the night so that I can go out too."

"No, I'm not lying for you." I snapped at her, feeling irritated. Her voice whined on, like a cat who was begging to be let outside.

"You're so mean to me!" she cried and huffed.

"It's not my fault our father has these rules, maybe if you hadn't gone behind his back so many times before, he'd trust you more." I looked at her from where I was sitting at my computer desk. She was sprawled across my bed.

She sniffed and then tried another approach, still hoping to sway me; she shuffled on my bed to sit upright in a sitting position. "Please, Bella," she begged, her eyes wide, unshed tears glistened in her eyes.

_Oh, God, puppy dog eyes? Really? _I thought, exasperated. I quickly looked away before she affected me.

"I really, _really_ like this guy," she told me. I shuddered, knowing she was talking about Royce.

"Leave me alone, Rose," I snapped at her, without looking up from my computer screen. "I've got homework to finish."

She huffed again and stood, glaring at me over her shoulder as she stormed out of my bedroom and closed the door behind her with a little too much force. I sighed and turned back to my homework trying to concentrate on my term paper. We were studying Shakespeare and the teacher had picked _Macbeth._

I'd chosen to depict Macbeth's fall into hell. I knew the marking period had only just started, and that the paper wasn't due until the end of it, but I liked to keep ahead of my studies and to maintain my straight A average.

I know it was probably the only thing that kept the principal from expelling me in the first place. As well as some great persuasion from my father. It probably also helped that the only students I had ever taken my anger out on were guys who didn't like the idea of their parents pressing charges on a girl.

I moved on to my biology assignment after finishing up writing the outline of my term paper for _Macbeth_. I wanted to kill the teacher for pairing me up with Edward Cullen for the next assignment. Not only did it mean that I would have to sit next to him every day for the next six weeks, it also meant that I would have to sit next to him for the next six weeks and he smelled like cigarettes. I hate being around smokers - the smell always reminded me of losing my mother to lung cancer. Plus, I'm sure he's an idiot, because he never pays attention in class.

Fortunately, biology was the only class I ever had to share with him. I mean, sure he's good looking. He's got nice eyes and a mind-numbing smile, but he rarely smiles at me anyway. Usually, he's always glaring at me from across the room.

Just because I accidentally scratched the paint on his stupid looking car at the beginning of the year…

I didn't know much about him, but I did know that he wasn't much of people person either, and kept mostly to himself as well.

Much later that evening, Charlie knocked on my door to say goodnight. I glanced at the glowing digits of my clock on my nightstand and realized it was probably time to hit the lights anyway.

"Night, Dad," I told him and stood up from my computer desk, he closed the door behind him, and I quickly got changed out of my clothes and slipped into bed. I preferred to sleep naked. I got too hot in the night with my clothes on and would usually end up undressing myself in my sleep anyway.

I slammed my locker door shut, while trying to keep a firm grasp of my textbooks and binders. For some ridiculous reason, my locker was on the opposite side of the school to where most of my classes were. So, I collected my materials for my morning lessons when I arrived to school to save myself from trekking around, back and forth, and possibly causing me to be late.

I generally made a stop at lunchtime to swap the books over, so it could have been worse I guess.

A loud wolf whistle caused me to glance over my shoulder, and I rolled my eyes as I realized who had drawn attention to themselves. Royce King and Mike Newton were standing on the opposite side of the hallway. Mike's eyes followed the ass of a freshman student. I tried to repress a shudder.

"Hey, Newton," I called across the hallway. His eyes shot up to mine and a brief flash of fear passed through them as his hand moved to cover his balls, before he quickly tried to compose himself, no doubt remembering the last time I'd kneed his family jewels. I allowed a small smirk to cross my lips and gestured down the hallway with a tilt of my head in the direction of the bit of fresh meat he'd been eyeing. "Maybe if you show her your toy collection, she'll let you play?"

I didn't bother to wait for him to get my mockery; I turned and walked toward where my first class of the day would be. English.

_Macbeth_ interested me quite a lot. I loved a good tragedy. I delighted in most of Shakespeare's work. My favorites circled around _Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Romeo & Juliet._

My English class frustrated me. I yearned to discuss literary masterpieces with my peers; however, they were far too dimwitted to even comprehend what was being said in the plays we read, let alone talk about them on an intellectual level. I even discovered that my English teacher, Mr. Mason, was also incredibly hard to talk to. It was undeniably frustrating. Whenever I'd tried to strike up an intelligent conversation with him, he'd assumed I was being a smart ass and had sent me to the principal's office. I knew better than to talk in class now.

I found myself staring out the window for most of first period, and I watched the rain that was non-stop in this constantly cloud covered community. _Hah! Nice alliteration, Bella._ After that, I found my thoughts drifting from the lesson, trying to think up more alliterations.

_Rain raps rigorously,_

_Against the awning_

_Unyielding, unwavering, unbending._

_Drowning us down into the depths of damnation_

_Forever, folding over flesh._

_A melting and massacring _

_Oppression. Our one opportunity of_

_Freedom is forgotten._

_Can you tell I don't like the rain? _

The bell rang shrill, interrupting me from my thoughts. I gathered my books and stumbled my way to my next class.

The day passed quite uneventfully. Lunchtime was soon upon us all, and I drifted into the cafeteria to eat my lunch. I sat alone with a book in hand. I didn't care that I was one of the only ones to eat by myself. In fact, I preferred it. I glared at anyone who came close enough to my table to interrupt my solitude.

I'd only managed to eat half of my sandwich by the time the bell for the lunch period to end sounded. I'd been preoccupied with my _Macbeth_ manuscript. I sighed and shoved the copy into my already over-flowing bag. I'd not even had a chance to go to switch my books yet. I jumped from my seat and managed to race to my locker to get my textbooks. I'd known I'd not have enough time to swap everything, but I'd cope. A few months of consistently beating the crap out of a boxing bag had developed a few muscles in my biceps.

I was strong enough, but graceful? No. I'd never possessed that quality.

Even though we came from the same set of parents, Rosalie and I varied greatly. She received all the beauty and grace genes; I'd acquired the self-sufficiency and brains ones.

I'd at least made it to the classroom to gain that fulfillment of falling face first in front of the factions of my fellow peers.

_Again with the alliteration._ I used it to distract myself as well as practicing some breathing exercises and counting in my head. I picked myself off the floor and gathered my books into my hands again. All the while cursing the fact that the administration had decided to give me a locker on one side of the school and assign me classes on the opposite side. That was a good idea.

"Have a nice trip, Bella?" some juvenile jeered at me. "See you next fall!" Cackles sounded around me, and I rolled my eyes skyward and huffed in annoyance. _So lame._

"See you next black eye or arm break, _jackass_." I shot at the asshole, coupled with a menacing snarl, but my voice had wavered a little, and I mentally winced.

I dropped my textbook collection on the biology table I shared with Edward Cullen. He gave me an amused look before covering his mouth with his hand and turning his head to look out the window.

"You got something to say, Cullen?" I barked. My cheeks were red with embarrassment and anger from my fall.

"Yeah, you thought bringing the library might help you pass the subject?" he asked me, smirking.

"Shut it." I tried to take some deep breaths, the same way my shrink had described for me.

"Maybe you have something in that collection of yours that could teach you about how to stay standing?"

"Maybe there's something in my collection that could inhibit you from having children?"

"Feisty," he jeered, snickering. I sighed, frustrated. Edward seemed to take great pleasure in stirring me up. My threats were always met with laughter, as though he didn't think me at all menacing. It was annoying. If only I'd been partnered with someone else…!

The teacher attempted to calm the class down, which took twice as long as it should because everyone was still hyper from the lunch period.

I spent the lesson trying to ignore Edward and doodling on my notepad, barely paying any attention to the teacher rambling on about organisms and evolution. It was all stuff I already had studied.

"Why do you draw eyes and lips?" Edward whispered from beside me. I glanced up and realized I'd been drawing the same set of eyes all over my page, paired with a set of lips an inch or so below the eyes.

I tore the paper from my book and crumpled it up, not wanting him to see my pathetic attempts at art.

"You're not very good at drawing," he criticized me.

I was prevented from responding by the teacher who addressed us all. "Okay class," he said from the front of the room. "I want you to spend the rest of the period talking with your assigned partners about your upcoming project. I would like an outline of your assignment by next week."

"Ugh!" I grumbled and glanced sideways at Edward. He was staring out the window now. I checked the clock on the wall. Ten minutes to go.

I rolled my eyes. "So, are you going to make me do this assignment by myself?" I asked him, feeling irritated. He was such an idiot. Why did I always get stuck with the dimwits?

"Fuck, no," he said, not bothering to turn his head to look at me. I glanced out the window, trying to discover what it was that had him so captured, but there was nothing but incessant rain beating against the window to capture anyone's curiosity.

Gradually, he did turn to look at me though, and his piercing, green-eyed stare had my breath catch in my throat. Of course, only for a moment before I shook myself awake.

"Okay, good. Whatever. Meet me after school. Library. You can tell me what you want to do."

Our assignment involved human genetics. We were required to learn about constructing pedigrees, mapping chromosomes, and genetic disorders but there was much more to it than that.

Truthfully, I could do this assignment by myself. I'd studied the material, but I didn't want to let Edward sit back and relax and score himself an easy mark. I wanted him to work for it.

The assignment required extensive research, and evidence of it. It required two people to work hard to come up with something solid. Maintaining my GPA was important to me - I needed to ensure that I could gain an escape from this small town. I knew that if it were up to my father, he would send me to some college close by, but the idea of staying near this rinky-dink town and in this repulsive weather was so not appealing to me – I needed out; I needed sunshine.

We spent the last few minutes of class ignoring each other. The rest of the class took the opportunity to talk about their plans for the weekend, the upcoming football game, who was dating whom… It was rather exhausting, listening to it. I did my best to block it out.

Only one class left, and it was on the way to my locker so I could dump the rest of my books there. I only dropped a few of them on the way there. I scrambled to pick them up. Nobody bothered to help. Though, I didn't blame them. I'd spent most of my years at Forks ensuring I had a large degree of separation between my peers and me.

I arrived only a little late to Gym class. It was a subject that I actually did rather well at. Despite my lack of co-ordination, I managed to tackle the games aggressively and ended up winning most of the time.

Edward hadn't shown up for our afterschool Biology assignment get-together. _Why should I even _be surprised? I tried not to let myself be frustrated.

I stayed for about an hour, searching for materials to use as references for our project. The cataloguing system that the school library used was so old that it took me quarter of an hour just to find the books I needed; my fingers drumming a beat on the table while I waited.

_Such a fucking liar_. I glared at the door of the library, trying to picture what he was doing now that was so much better. I came up with a reasonable list of things that would be better than researching in the library after school, but these thoughts just made me scowl.

When I'd found a sufficient amount of books and articles, I checked them out so I could study them at home, but as I was leaving Edward entered the library. I raised my eyebrows at him as he approached me. "What?" he asked me, brows furrowed. "You didn't mention an exact time for us to meet," he protested.

"Yeah, well I gotta go. Next time, just meet me at three-thirty." I dumped half the texts into his arms. He protested, but I cut him off. "You can read these. Let me know what you think of them tomorrow." And then I brushed past him, trying to ignore the touch of energy that surged between us as my shoulder connected with his.

I admired my red 1953 Chevy truck as I crossed the parking lot to get to it. She was so beautiful. The truck had been a recent gift from Dad for doing so well on my report card. However, I knew it was also a tool he'd use if I chose to punch another guy in the face, threatening to take it away if I lost control of myself.

I climbed in and started the engine, it rumbled to life and I coasted back home.

I locked myself in my room, Charlie wasn't home yet and Rosalie was out with friends, most likely. I placed my iPod into my docking station and switched the stereo on, turning the volume up so that music blasted through the speakers.

I sat down at my computer desk and flipped my laptop open. After perusing my usual websites - most of which involved music sites - I found my fingers tapping the first few letters of site into the address bar, I clicked enter when the rest of the website highlighted in the bar.

A gorgeous, white 2005 Suzuki Boulevard. This was my porn. Boxing and motorbikes were the only two things that helped me release my stress. Jacob Black had two motorbikes that he'd worked on over the years, we'd grown up on those bikes, but now they were falling to pieces and it was getting harder and harder for Jacob to keep fixing them. Someone had been trying to sell their Boulevard for about a month now, and I'd had my eye on something like it for a long time.

However, there were two problems. The seller was located in Phoenix, Arizona. And they were asking $3000 for it. I currently had $1600 saved from working at Newton's Outfitters on weekends and after school, but I was aiming to save money in case I didn't get the scholarship I needed for the college I wanted to go to.

I grabbed my cell phone and started thumbing away at the keypad, texting a message to Jacob.

_Zuki still up for sale. It's been over a month. Still asking $3000._

I tossed the phone aside once I'd sent it and continued browsing the classifieds for similar bikes in a comparable price range, but nothing caught my eye.

My phone beeped, alerting me of a new text message. I read Jacob's message and smirked.

_You want it bad, don't you? Maybe you could strip for some extra cash? _

I quickly formulated a reply. _I'm not that desperate, you ass. _

_Patience is a virtue, _Jacob responded.

Loud banging on my bedroom door indicated that Rosalie was home. "Can you turn that emo shit off?" she shouted through the door. I sighed and flicked the volume of my stereo so it was at a more civilized level.

I made a start on the research for our bio assignment, and I muttered darkly under my breath, still pissed off that Edward had been so late. God could only help him if he was late again tomorrow.

I made spaghetti for dinner that night. Both Charlie and Rose didn't know how to cook, so that left it to me. I found that ever since my mother had died when I was thirteen, I'd taken over as mother to Rosalie and housekeeper as well.

We ate in silence, the clanking of silverware against plates being the only noise, which wasn't unusual. Rosalie was still sulking over not getting to go out with Royce. I was still pissed off because that was my general state of emotion anyway, and Charlie was usually silent regardless.

As we finished up and started to clear the plates away, Rosalie asked Charlie if she could go to town tomorrow with some girlfriends.

"Please, Dad," she begged. "I promise we won't be out late, we're just going to see a movie. We'll be back before ten."

Charlie looked over at me from where I was standing by the sink, and I shrugged, not really caring and praying to God he wouldn't ask me to go with her. Playing the chaperone with her idiotic, bimbo-like friends was really the last thing I wanted to do.

"How will you get there?" he asked her. Rosalie didn't have her license yet and had to rely on everyone else to get her places.

"Leah just got her license," she said without blinking. Charlie was a human lie detector. Rosalie knew she had to think quickly around him, or else he would catch her out in any lie.

"Okay, fine, but don't be out past ten." Charlie finally conceded. He retreated to the sofa to watch sports on his widescreen, and Rosalie grinned triumphantly at me.

I rolled my eyes, uncaringly. I didn't really want to know if she was going with friends or if she was sneaking off with Royce.

She retreated to her room soon after that, and I finished cleaning up the dishes. I grabbed a spoon and a carton of vanilla ice cream from the freezer and snuck it up to my room.

The night crept by, and I eventually fell asleep with my bed lamp still switched on and the book I'd been reading sprawled across my chest. I woke up much later with my blankets and sheets wrapped around me, and I'd managed to kick off most of my clothes. I glanced at my nightstand to check the time; it read one in the morning. The ice cream container was sitting on top of a stack of books that I kept by my bed, and what I hadn't eaten of the ice cream was now melted in its tub. _Yum, ice cream soup. _I thought blearily.

It took me a few moments to comprehend where I was as the dream I'd been having had seemed so real. I remembered that same surge of pleasure I felt when Edward's shoulder had connected with mine when I'd brushed past him in the library, and I was disgusted to realize I'd been dreaming of Edward Cullen's hands all over my body.

**End note: What are your thoughts? Let me know please. **

**Thanks for reading.**


	2. FORD

**Chapter 2: FORD**

**Authors Note: **

**I would like to thank my beta MistyFate for her hard work and great ideas with helping me out on this chapter. She is gorgeous and you should all tell her how great she is on Twitter.**

**Speaking of, I am also on Twitter under the name JulesAmes, feel free to add me. **

**Chapter Two**

**FORD: Fix Or Repair Daily**

**Edward's point of view**

I sat, brooding in the passenger seat of Alice's car as she drove us to school together. My Ford Pinto, had once again, decided to stop working; and I didn't have a chance to figure out what was wrong with it, but I had someone who would probably help me with it.

I scowled sullenly out the window as Alice pulled up to the school and slipped quickly into her favorite parking space. "We're here," she sang happily. I blinked wearily at her and chose not to respond. Alice was a morning person, I was not, and became easily irritated in the mornings.

The door of the car clicked shut behind me, as Alice searched the school yard.

"See you around, Edward." Alice waved as she skipped off to see her boyfriend, Jasper Whitlock, who was sitting on the front steps of the school, waiting for her.

I took a moment to watch the people around me scurrying about. While I was an incessant people-watcher, I didn't like talking to them, as I found people were only interesting to observe. The most intriguing to me was Bella Swan.

People feared her. She terrified everyone at Forks High School, although I didn't really see why so many people were scared of her. She was a kitten with an identity crisis as she considered herself to be a lion – it amazed me how she managed to fool the entire student population.

I'd heard stupid and outlandish rumors involving Bella Swan. Some said that she used to torture animals as a kid, and had torn the heads of her sister's toys off, but I think they were just getting her mixed up with that kid from Toy Story.

I had also witnessed her knee Mike Newton in the junk a few months ago, which had been thoroughly amusing as the guy was a prick and deserved whatever torment she dished out to him. I probably would never comprehend how a group of people could be so scared of such a small girl, who was perpetually klutzy. It was, indeed, a mystery but one that I hoped to solve sooner or later.

Bella Swan interested me; I wanted to know why she was the way she was. While I had heard the rumors about her being a monster child, I'd also seen a conflicting side that suggested she had not always been so angry. That she could have been sweet even, at some point.

I watched her stumble out of her monster of a truck; she dragged a large bag across the seat with her as she stepped down. The large bag was used to carry most of her books. She was always carrying lots of books, which was rather interesting considering she was eternally clumsy and always dropping them everywhere.

Personally, I really had nothing against the girl. She was my amusement in this dull and drab town and had been ever since my family moved here last year.

I chuckled as I watched her glare at a boy who had accidentally brushed past her. Something I'd noticed about her was that she didn't like being touched. The bell rang and students began to filter into school; I grimaced. I had not been given a chance to have my morning smoke as a result of getting to school later than normal. I sighed, ran a frustrated hand through my hair, and followed the rest of the school population into the building.

Skipping my pre-school cigarette only caused my bad mood to intensify over the morning period, and I was relieved when the bell rang for a short intermission between classes. I snuck behind the Math building and lit up. I sheltered myself from the rain by the little covering that was provided.

I'd been stressed up until that point, but luckily my smoke break seemed to calm me enough. The rest of the school day passed by relatively quickly, that is until biology. I was early for the class, and Bella Swan entered, ever graceless as usual. She tripped and fell flat on her face. The class roared with laughter, delighted to see their favorite antagonist take a fall. I felt sorry for her and almost stepped out from my seat to lend a hand, but I caught myself. I knew better than to assist her; Bella Swan required no help.

As she made her way to our lab table – the teacher had paired us up for the semester to work on a big assignment – I noticed that over the course of the day, she'd acquired even more books than this morning.

I covered my mouth to prevent myself from laughing out loud. Honestly, considering she only had two more classes left for the day, did she really need so many?

"You got something to say, Cullen?" she snapped at me, and I struggled to compose myself.

We bantered back and forth for a while, her cheeks flamed in both embarrassment and anger, and I couldn't help but to smirk triumphantly. She was so hot when she got angry.

"Shut up," she snarled at me. Her cheeks were flushed an amazing shade of pink, and her lips parted as she expelled a huff of air.

I continued to rile her on. "Maybe you have something in that collection of yours that could teach you about how to stay standing?"

"Maybe there's something in my collection that could inhibit you from having children?"

_Oh, God! She's so aggressive. _I liked that in her.

"Feisty," I snickered, enjoying myself thoroughly.

The conversation lulled as the teacher started his lesson from the front of the class, so I turned to look out the window. The rain was beating down hard against the glass, and I watched as streams of water cascaded down, racing each other to the window's pane. I remained that way for most of the lesson, staring out the window, while half listening to the teacher who was trying (but failing) to make biology sound exciting.

When I turned back, I noticed that Bella had been doodling for most of the lesson in her notebook. The same expressive eyes and full lips over and over again down the sides of her margins, occasionally a larger image sketched out across an unused page. She wasn't paying any attention, so I watched her as she drew.

I took everything in, the way her hand hovered over the page, and occasionally drew lines or shading. Her hands were small compared to mine, and her fingers were delicate, yet her knuckles had small abrasions covering them. She was a walking contradiction.

On the page, each face was missing a nose, and I wondered why that was. It was possible she didn't know how to draw noses, but judging on the quality of what she had drawn, I doubted that was the case.

The expression on her face suggested that she wasn't even paying any attention to what she was doing. She was looking at the page, but she wasn't really seeing it. While her right hand sketched, her left curled around her head, her thumb and forefinger twined in her hair.

_What does her hair feel like to touch? _I wondered.

"Why do you draw eyes and lips?" I asked her, feeling compelled to know; she didn't answer, only ripped the page from her book, crumpled it, and stashed it away out of my reach.

"You're not very good at drawing," I murmured, meaning to identify that all her faces had been missing required elements, but the teacher resumed speaking again, addressing the entire class, and I immediately tuned him out again. She shot me a dirty look but chose not to say anything.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Bella - seeming subconsciously - fidget with a charm bracelet that was wrapped around her left wrist. It was silver and held many trinkets, some animals, and some nice-looking beads that spaced the charms. My gaze traveled to her face, but, in a preemptive move, I quickly redirected my attention to the window when I thought Bella would catch me staring.

"So, are you going to make me do this assignment by myself?" she asked me toward the end of the lesson. She was talking about the assignment that the teacher had given us last week.

I felt irritated that she seemed to think that this had been my intention. I might not appear to care that much about school work – at least not as much as Bella – but I did put in the effort enough to get good grades. I'd been gifted with good genes; I was smart enough that I didn't require intensive study to get by. Although, my parents implored me to put more effort saying that I could be accepted into any Ivy League school if only I put my mind to it.

Bella and I made plans to meet after school that day in the library to get some work on our assignment done. She wanted to get a head start, and it had been my intent to go once I'd finished my after school smoke behind the math classrooms.

"Hey Cullen!" My gaze switched from where I'd been staring out across the back oval to the tree line where the grass of the athletics field finished and the forest started.

Royce King, a guy who shared my calculus and gym class, was approaching me with a determined look on his face. I rolled my eyes and took another drag from the cigarette held in my left hand between my thumb and forefinger. As King advanced, I held the smoke from the cigarette in my lungs; finally expelling it once the nuisance had come face to face with me.

He coughed a little and waved his hand in front of his face trying to dispel the second-hand smoke. He glared a little, but then thought better of it and tried a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"What do you want?" I didn't bother maintaining eye contact with him, my gaze wandered back to the tree line.

"I noticed you rode in with your sister today," Royce said, observant as always.

"Well done, King." I gave him false praise. "A gold star for you and your eminent astuteness." I pressed the pad of a finger to his shirt as though rewarding him with said gold star. I chuckled darkly, and he took a step backward so that he was out of my reach.

His expression was puzzled, as though he didn't understand what I'd just said. "Don't touch me," he scowled, but quickly fixed his expression so that he appeared calmer.

"I wanted to talk to you; I have an offer for you a deal you shouldn't refuse." His tone was matter-of-fact, and he continued talking before I could interrupt him. "You want a better car - I know this. That shit box of a car you currently drive is certainly not worth the time and money you put into it to maintain it. Lucky for you, I can help."

I snorted derisively. The only way Royce King would be helping me was if he keeled over and died. Okay, so maybe that was a little harsh, but I just didn't like the guy.

"As you might be aware," Royce continued, ignoring my mocking noises. "Rosalie Swan and I are something of an item…" At this I started cracking up.

"You wish." It was common knowledge that this jerk considered himself God's gift to women and thought that he deserved all the hottest girls, which seemed to include Rosalie Swan. Though, to be honest, she wasn't my type.

And as far as I knew, Swan's sister didn't date either. Royce was glaring at me.

"Get to the point, King."

"Well, you might not realize this, but Rosalie and I can't make things official until her father agrees."

I laughed at this, seeing right through his words. I took another drag of my smoke and breathed it into Royce King's face again. He waved his hand in front of his face to dispel the smoke.

"You mean, you can't take her anywhere to fuck until Chief Swan lets her out of the house with you."

"Yeah, same thing," he shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

My lip curled in contempt for this _jerkoff_.

"My point is that I found out recently that Chief Swan has a new rule. That Rosalie can date when her older sister does."

"Bella Swan? You're still not getting to the point." I said, still not perceiving what this all had to do with my car, and how Royce King thought he might be able to help me with it.

"You want something, and I want something. You need a new car; I want Rosalie Swan, but to get Rosalie Swan I need someone to date Bella. I can give you the funds to get your car if you agree to date Bella Swan."

I'd taken another drag of my smoke, but at his words I suddenly coughed violently. The pieces had fallen together, and I'd finally understood what Royce King was getting at.

"Cullen, if you date Bella long enough for me to get what I want out of Rosalie, then I will give you the money you need for your car. I won't even tell anyone about our deal," he promised. I rolled my eyes, as if he'd want to be telling anyone about our deal anyway. He'd be getting what he wanted.

I gave him a long, hard look. He really was a piece of work. I stubbed the end of my cigarette out on the brick wall behind my back without taking my eyes off Royce King.

"I don't need your charity, King."

"Call it payment for a job."

"Forget it, there's no way in hell I'd do that for you."

I shoved off the wall and started to walk away, leaving him behind. "Think about it at least," he shouted out after me.

My encounter with Royce King had put me into a sour mood. It was jerks like him that made the rest of the male population look bad, especially to girls like Bella Swan. It was no wonder she hated guys so much.

As an image of Bella flickered through my consciousness, I realized I was supposed to meet her in the library after school. After my talk with Royce, I'd begun my walk home and had reached about a quarter of the way when I was distracted by my thoughts of Bella.

"Ugh!" I turned direction and retraced my steps back to the school.

When I reached the library, I was a little out of breath; blame the combination of speed walking and a history of cigarettes or something. I inhaled deeply, trying to steady my breathing.

I entered the library and after a few moments came face to face with Bella. We were standing close to the entrance, and by the looks of things, she appeared to be leaving. She looked up at me, and I could tell she was angry.

Her hair had become more disheveled, and fine wisps of it were coming loose from where she'd tied it back in a ponytail. A slight bead of sweat had formed on her forehead, and I noticed that she was lugging what looked like six heavy science books. My eyes widened in dismay, that shit could be heavy!

She was glaring at me now, as though I'd done something much worse than forget about a study session.

"What?" I queried. It wasn't like she'd even told me to meet her at an exact time anyway. I'd turned up, albeit later than what she'd probably expected me to when she'd mentioned "after school." I attempted to tell her this.

"Yeah, well I gotta go. Next time, just meet me at three-thirty," she said and dumped the majority of the textbooks she had had clutched in her arms.

"Wait," I tried to protest. I didn't have my car with me today, and I'd have to carry the books home with me, but she paid me no heed.

"You can read these. Let me know what you think of them tomorrow." Then she was gone before I had been given a chance to blink.

The girl was way too serious about her grades, I decided.

I contemplated how long the stick could be that was wedged up Bella Swan's ass as I gathered my newly acquired collection and moved out of the library. But thinking about Bella Swan's ass, wasn't going to help me.

The school wasn't as deserted as I would have expected it to be at this time of day, but I supposed that was probably due to the extracurricular activities that were held after school on most days: cheerleading, football, chess club, mathletes, yearbook… I wasn't involved with any of them, thank God.

The books weighed down my arms, and I shifted to readjust them. _How does Bella manage to do this all the time?_ The thought of walking home while carrying a massive load of books did not appeal to me. I sat on the steps in front of the building, and my mind searched for options: I could call Alice, but I'd rather not deal with her; I could ditch the books, but then I wouldn't get to work on our project… Then, as if someone heard my struggle, two students behind me began talking about the late bus_. Huh, I forgot about that. _I stood and began walking to where the late bus would be located.

As I crossed the quad I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a couple embracing. They were standing near the parking lot next to a red Jeep Wrangler. I recognized the Jeep as belonging to Emmett McCarty, a senior who I had at least a bit of respect for. Most of the students at Forks High School were small town losers, who would no doubt amount to not much. Despite the fact that Emmett McCarty was the quarterback on the football team, he wasn't a jerk or a loser. He was hard working and put a lot of effort into anything he did.

He'd also helped me out a few times when I'd had issues with my car after school. He knew a thing or two about mechanics and had offered to show me the ropes.

What surprised me more than seeing him way after the bell had rung was who he was with. I wouldn't have paid them any notice if it weren't for the fact that he was with a particular blonde beauty – at least by definition of Royce, Emmett, and other guys at the school. I guess you could say my double take was comical.

"Huh," I smiled. That was ironic. As I observed the couple in the distance that separated us, I considered that they probably had to keep their relationship a secret based on the information that Royce King had imparted to me today.

Thinking of Royce King brought my thoughts back to his earlier offer. It was clear that he thought he had a winning chance of getting Rosalie Swan into the backseat of his car. From what I was seeing before me right now, it was clear that even if Royce put his best efforts forward, Rosalie wouldn't be interested. It seemed she had her sights set on someone else.

The Swan sister quickly looked around the area as though she were checking that the coast was clear. She didn't seem to notice me, as she seemed confident enough to chastely kiss her secret before turning to leave him by his Jeep.

It only took me a moment to make a decision to cross the distance to meet with him.

"McCarty." He looked up, startled. His eyes widened slightly in horror before he swept the expression with a swipe of his hand across his mouth.

"Cullen," Emmett offered with an additional nod. He was hoping that I hadn't just seen him with the Swan sister, but he didn't realize that this was good news for him.

"You and Swan, huh?"

"What do you mean?" Emmett asked, startled.

I shot him a knowing look, smirking.

"Look dude, can you not tell anyone?" Emmett's expression was pleading with me. "Chief Swan would murder me in my sleep if he found out I was dating his youngest daughter."

"Don't you technically have to go on dates to be dating someone?"

Emmett sighed. "What are you getting at Cullen?"

"Look," I said as I dumped my books on to the Jeep Wrangler because they were getting heavy.  
Then I began to tell him about my encounter with Royce King, hardly believing that my exchange had only happened about an hour ago.

"He said what!" Emmett practically cried when I mentioned what Royce King had said about wanting to get Rosalie so that he could pretty much just fuck and duck.

"That fucking douche bag!" Emmett cursed.

"Yeah, I know. He's a first class ass, but I think we could find a way to pay him back." I told him about what he'd offered me, how it would help me out, how it would help Emmett and Rosalie out, and what it entailed for me to actually do. Emmett really was getting a pretty good deal. I just wanted to make sure that if I was going to go through this deal, that Royce King didn't get his hands on the Swan sister.

"I appreciate what you're willing to do, man." Emmett was thoughtful, but then shook his head. "There's no possible way that it's going to work though. From what Rose tells me about her sister, there's no way she would be willing to date anyone, let alone you… No offence." He looked apologetic.

I frowned. He had a point.

"Anyway," he continued. "I don't know if I feel comfortable letting this douche knuckle try to get in with my Rose." He sighed. "But, I guess it's worth a shot, right…?" He shrugged.

I shrugged too and thought of my car. "Yeah. It's worth a shot."

I liked the idea of trying to get in with Bella as well. She was feisty and I liked that in a girl, not to mention hot as hell when she got worked up. It was a challenge, and I enjoyed a challenge. Plus, I'd be getting a car out of it.

We agreed not to tell Rosalie what was going on. I surmised that while she would probably like the chance to go out with Emmett, she probably wouldn't agree with the rest of it.

"How's your car going?" Emmett asked me as way of changing the conversation.

"Shit," I responded, grimacing. "Wouldn't start for me this morning."

"That sucks. I can give you a ride home, unless you're waiting for Alice or something."

"Nah, I was going to catch the bus, but a ride would be sweet. Thanks." I smiled at Emmett and picked up the books that were resting on the hood of his car.

"Cool, I'm heading off now. Get in."

I climbed into Emmett's Jeep and dumped the library books at my feet.

"So, what's your plan? Bella Swan is one piece of work that's going to take a lot of effort," Emmett said as he pulled out of the parking space.

"I have no idea," I grumbled. "To be honest, I haven't even put any thought into it. She's in my biology class, but we just bicker all the time."

"Hah! Good luck to you then. It should be interesting to watch, at the very least," he responded.

"Yeah. Tell me about it."

Royce found me the next morning. "Did you think about what we talked about yesterday?" he asked me hopefully.

He really couldn't take no for an answer.

"Maybe." I played him. I took a drag from my morning cigarette. The bell was due to ring in about five minutes, and I'd only just arrived at school, once again, thanks to Alice who had no concept of time. I didn't want a repeat of yesterday morning's withdrawal symptoms, so I'd rushed to my favorite spot behind the math classrooms.

"Well?" Royce didn't like to be left hanging.

"Did you know that to buy my car, it's going to cost me around five thousand dollars? I told him conversationally.

"Money is no issue for me."

"Lucky you," I muttered. God only knew how much of a douche this guy was.

"Fine, what are your terms?" I'd nearly finished my smoke, and I took one last drag before stubbing it out on the wall and tossing the butt into the damp grass.

"It's simple, really. In order for Rosalie Hale to be allowed to date by her father, someone needs to date her sister Bella Swan.

"If you can successfully date her, long enough for me to get what I want from her sister, then I will happily write you a check for five thousand dollars."

"I'm not going to agree to those terms," I told him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how do I know that Rosalie wants to date you anyway? Clearly I've only heard your side of things.

"These are my terms. I will agree to date Bella Swan; long enough for you to _try _and attempt to get whatever it is you want from her. If you are unsuccessful, however, I still demand payment for my efforts. For all I know, you might plan on denying the whole thing ever happening, just so you don't have to pay me." I crossed my arms over my chest, defiantly.

"Fine, but make it three thousand instead," he said. I smirked; obviously he wasn't as sure of his skills as he appeared to be.

That I could live with, so I nodded my head. "That's okay, but I want half of it upfront as a good faith payment," I demanded.

"Fine." Royce scowled a little, but then realization must have dawned on him that he'd gotten what he wanted overall because he smiled triumphantly.

At that moment the bell rang for class, I mused over why Royce King had chosen me for this task.

I asked him.

"Why you, what?" he asked, clearly puzzled by my question.

"Why'd you pick me instead of some loser, who'd probably do it for free, to help you out?" I clarified.

"Because I don't think there's any other 'loser' here who'd risk their balls for her." Royce smirked.

**End note:**

**What did you think? Please let me know by reviewing, and thanks for reading!**


	3. Tess of the D’Urbervilles

**Chapter 3: Tess of the D'Urbervilles**

**Authors note:**

**Hi all, thanks for still reading if you're up to this point. I hope you're liking it so far. I had a bit of trouble with this chapter and getting it out, but I hope you like it.**

**Big thanks to MistyFate, her beta skills and ideas are phenomenal.**

**And thank you to those who have reviewed so far to let me know they like the story. I appreciate your support.**

**Bella's point of view**

**Chapter Three**

**Tess of the D'Urbervilles**

I woke up the next morning still feeling restless from a bad night of sleep. For some reason, no matter how much I tried, I couldn't stop the dreams of Edward, his hands, and the feeling of what his hands could do to me. My mouth felt dry and I swallowed, trying to get some moisture to coat my throat.

I stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom. Charlie was downstairs, and Rosalie was still sleeping, so I was free to take a shower. The hot water helped calm me down as the soothing liquid streamed down my body. I had been tempted to turn the hot water off and just let the cold water run, but it was roughly only 40 °F outside, so I decided to pass.

A loud bang on the door alerted me to Rosalie's whining presence on the other side of the wall. She was awake now and vying for use of the bathroom. I shut the taps off, slid the curtain to the side, and stepped out of the tub.

"I'll be done in a minute, Rosalie!" I shouted as my sister continued to relentlessly pound on the door. _Why, oh why did we have only one bathroom? _I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself. I was a bit obsessive about my showers. I had to have two a day: every morning, and in the afternoon after my kickboxing session. And sometimes even before I went to bed as well. I was a little bit OCD about it.

"You better not have used up all the hot water, Bella." Rosalie shoved past me as I opened the door, and the steam from my shower seeped out into the hallway.

I quickly dressed and headed downstairs to find Charlie sitting around the breakfast table with a bowl of cereal.

"Hey," I mumbled.

"Hmm," Charlie grunted, returning my greeting through a mouthful of Cap'n Crunch.

"I thought you were going to start eating healthier?" I questioned as I grabbed a granola bar from the pantry.

"I am!" Charlie protested managing to speak between spoonfuls. "It has grains in it, no cholesterol, and is low in fat." He was reading from the box.

"_Low _in fat," I emphasized and bit into my granola bar.

"Humph."

I grinned and walked out of the room to look for my book bag.

We had a substitute teacher first period, so I pulled out a book to read. The teacher had deemed the class a study period and would have absolutely no idea if my book was study material or not, which it wasn't.

I was currently reading _Tess of the D'Urbervilles_ by Thomas Hardy; it was my first time reading it, but I was so far enjoying it. Well as much as you could enjoy a good tragedy. I generally had a series of books that I liked to read at once, depending on the current mood I was in. And because of this, I managed to swallow the novels whole, inhaling the rich text as much as my father inhaled my fish fry.

I found myself getting sucked into the novel; the unfairness of everything that happened to Tess D'Urberville was really quite appalling. As well as that, I became strangely fixated with the way male domination seemed to be a common theme throughout the story.

The bell rang, signaling the change of class and interrupting me from my escapism. I bookmarked the page to read later.

My English class was close to my locker, so I took the chance to swap around some books for the next few subjects. As I was approaching, I found that someone was leaning against it. I scowled, realizing that I would have to yell at someone, and I'd been in such a good mood so far that morning. I sighed.

The person turned their head at the last moment. The moment before I'd been about to yell at them. I sucked my breath in when I saw that it was Edward Cullen. Of course, I should have been able to recognize that hair. That brown-bronze mop on top of his head that I had clutched at in my dreams last night was unmistakable. My cheeks heated in response to my reflection.

"Uh…" I started. He blinked at me, clearly amused. "You're against my locker." I swallowed.

"Oh," he spoke but took his time to move away from my locker. I felt my cheeks heat. _What is wrong with me? _

I could feel his presence strongly as I fumbled over my locker combination and tried to remove my unneeded books into the locker space. "Shit!" A whispered swear was uttered as three of my books came tumbling out.

I ducked down quickly to get on my hands and knees to pick them up, all the while cursing my lack of coordination. I was surprised to find that Edward Cullen had also bent down to help me. He had his hand over two of the books already. One of them being the book I'd been reading earlier. My breath caught in my throat at how close he was. If I leaned forward, his nose would brush with mine. I blinked and pulled back, but I could feel my neck beginning to warm as flashes of the dreams from last night chose to surface in my mind.

"You dropped this," he said and looked down at the cover in his hands. He raised his eyebrows a little, but he didn't say anything about it.

I took the books wordlessly.

"I looked over those books you gave me last night, as well. I can give you some notes if you're interested in seeing them."

I swallowed and nodded my head; I still seemed unable to come up with anything to say.

"Cool." He looked uncertain, as though he couldn't think of anything more to say. "Well, I guess I'll see you in Bio."

By this point, I'd managed to get the damned books into my locker. I turned around to speak, but as my mouth parted I noticed he was gone. I spotted him halfway up the hallway.

_Humph. _The bell rang; it broke me out of the daze Edward Cullen propelled me into. I snapped out of it quickly and turned on my heel for my next class.

As I passed through the hallways, I spotted Rosalie leaning up against a wall, surrounded by a group of people. Most were friends, but there were a couple of guys I only barely recognized. She was flipping her hair over her shoulder, primping. I rolled my eyes, but continued on my path.

Lauren Mallory was sitting in my seat by the time I made it to class and scampered off once she saw me coming. Yet, she didn't manage to cover her scowl as she left. I honestly didn't care that someone was in my seat. However, Lauren Mallory was constantly bullying the freshmen and sophomore students to do whatever she pleased. And for some reason, I frightened her, so I took pleasure in knocking her down from her self-claimed pedestal every now and then.

"Lauren, you've got something between your teeth," I told her. I was lying; her teeth were whitened to perfection, but it didn't stop her from running her tongue over her teeth for the rest of the lesson and hiding her mouth from view with her hand.

I chuckled quietly to myself. Such vanity always amused me, and girls like Lauren were such good practice subjects.

I saw Edward in the halls a few times between classes. He always seemed to be looking at me, and his eyes would flicker to mine. Occasionally, a small flash of a smile would light his face, as though he had a secret, but then he'd look away and continue on his path.

I couldn't get rid of the images from my dream of skin on skin.

_Moisture on flesh, dampness, wetness. _I tried to swallow as my mouth grew dry.

_A dance, a mold of two bodies, entwining. _My downcast eyes searched the patterns on the floor tiles as my cheeks flamed pink.

A suck of air, gasp, breath. Swallow. _Shit. _I stumbled as I shoved my shoulder, hard, against someone in passing.

"Sorry, Bella," they mumbled. As if it were their fault. I didn't say anything, just righted myself and kept walking.

_Get your mind in the game, Swan._

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the library after school." Edward was talking to me during the last ten minutes of biology that the teacher had, once again, given us to talk about our assignments. "I promise to show up."

_He has really nice eyes. And really nice teeth. _I noted as he gave me a half smile.

I had no idea what was wrong with me. _Since when does a _dream_ influence the way I act or think? I must just be horny and that is why I'm thinking indecent thoughts about him. _

"Bella?" _Oh, he was speaking to me._

"What?"

"I asked you if you wanted to meet in the library after school." He was staring at me intently. _His eyes are green like avocados. No, more like olives. Or were they like broccoli? The top part of broccoli, not the stalk._

"Sure," I muttered. "Three thirty."

"I made notes on what I thought we could do for the assignment." Edward ducked down to pull something out of his book bag. As he bent, I noticed that his shirt lifted and the waistband of his jeans lowered, allowing me a glimpse of the thin ribbon of flesh on his lower back.

"Here." Edward straightened up as I tried to make it look as if I hadn't been checking his ass out. Edward handed me a loose-leaf sheet of paper with what looked more like chicken scratch than writing. I squinted down at the page, trying to decipher the words, only just capable of decoding it.

"Good, we can use this," I said, once I'd managed to work out what he'd noted. I found that the information he'd recorded was actually quite valuable. There were book titles with page numbers written next to them, to information that was relevant to our assignment. I was impressed.

"My dad actually has some books that he thinks might be helpful, stuff that you can't get in here." He gestured to the room, and my eyes widened, beyond ecstatic to hear the news.

"Really? What kind of books?" I asked, curious.

In the end, Edward invited me to come over to his house sometime to study. His dad had said that we could use his library as long as we didn't take the books out of the house.

It was a sacrifice. While I would have to go to Edward's home and spend time with him, it meant getting a good grade on this assignment, which was practically my entire grade for the class, so it was worth it.

"When can you come around?" he asked me, seeming eager. I'd been wondering about that. Today, he'd been acting weird: paying me more attention than usual, offering to study. I gave him a quizzical look but decided not to question it. Perhaps he was just turning over a new leaf? Wanting to try harder at his schoolwork or something. That's what it appeared like to me, anyway.

"I'm working Friday night, but I can come over tomorrow…"

"Yeah, that sounds good." He paused, looking as though he was thinking about something. "Where do you work?" he asked.

"Outfitters," I mumbled.

The expression on his face was one of disbelief. "I wouldn't have pictured you in retail." He chuckled.

"Why the hell not?" I asked, affronted. I could tell he was getting some kind of sick pleasure out of pissing me off.

"Well, you're not really a people person."

I was offended. While I wasn't really that great at the customer side of the job, I did a hell of a lot better than Mike Newton at updating stock, and setting up the displays, as well as handling the cash register. Newton was pathetic at that kind of thing. So he usually handled the customers and left me to do the rest of it. If I wasn't busy picking up Newton's slack, I'm sure I'd do a fine job with the customers.

I stood quickly. We were virtually finished in the library for the day anyway as it would be closing soon. "I'll have you know I'm a fucking awesome employee. And at least I have a job." I fumed. He laughed, but didn't say anything more.

"Jerk," I mumbled as I gathered my stuff.

"Bitch." His retort was as quiet as mine, but I'd managed to hear him. I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to work out what his problem was. I'd been called far worse things before, and bitch was a common name thrown my way.

"Moron." My eyes leveled with his, daring him to try and continue.

He smirked. "You look cute when you arch your eyebrow like that."

I spluttered. "What?" I asked, squinting dumbly. I had definitely not been expecting to hear that.

"See you around, Bella." He brushed past me and out the door of the library.

"Bella!" I looked up to watch as my friend Jessica made her way over to me. "Did you have detention again?" she asked me, all concerned like, even though I knew she wasn't.

There had been a time in my life when I'd had after school detention every day after school. It'd only been more recently when I'd been forced to see a shrink, do the whole count to ten business, and the breathing exercises that I'd stopped getting into fights. This meant that I had more time on my hands as I no longer had to attend detention.

"No," I told Jess because she was expecting me to answer. "I was in the library."

"Oh. Cool, hey guess what?" I fell into step as she started telling me about how Mike Newton looked at her differently today. I rolled my eyes. While Jessica wasn't the prettiest girl at school, she was a little chubby and her eyes were spaced a little too far apart, I knew she could do a whole lot better than Mike Newton. However, she wouldn't listen to my advice, so I stopped voicing my opinion.

"And he said, 'Hey!' to me," she continued, as if this were a big deal.

"Want a ride home?" I interjected.

"Oh, yeah that'd be good." We both climbed into the truck and Jess resumed her Newton gushing.

Jessica Stanley and I had been friends our entire lives. She lived on my street, she knew Jake, and the three of us had always been tight.

When my mom died, Jess had been there for me. She wasn't the most tactful or kind person when it came to people who were grieving, but she knew when to shut up or get out of the way. She knew me really well, too. She was aware that I didn't like to talk, so she filled the silence with her meaningless chatter, never needing a prompt.

"What's the deal with you and that Edward freak?" she asked me suddenly, as though the thought had just occurred to her. I was turning onto our street.

"What do you mean? And he's not a freak, Jess." I wasn't sure what she was getting at. There was nothing going on between Edward and me – apart from the study we were doing outside of school. Who gave a shit about that, though?

"I saw you in the hall today," she told me, giving me an all-knowing, smug look. "You gave him googly eyes. And he is a freak, he has, like, no friends."

"Excuse me?" I snorted, ignoring the jab about him not having friends, coasting down our street.

"You know, googly eyes. You don't have many looks, Bella," she told me matter-of-factly. "Mostly you just glare at people."

"Wow, Jess," I deadpanned. "When did you get so observant?"

Jessica was immune to sarcasm. "I don't know, I guess I've always been pretty observant. That's how I can tell that Mike might like me. I saw him looking at me in PE today."

"Yeah, Jess." I said, trying my hardest not to sound irritated. "You said that already."

I didn't have the heart to tell Jess that the reason Mike was staring at her was probably because she'd had her PE shirt inside out.

I pulled up to the third house on the street and let Jess out. Mine was a few doors down, the eighth house in.

"See you later, Bella!" She climbed out of the truck and slammed the door behind her.

I shifted the gearstick back to first and cruised slowly past the three houses that separated us.

Once I was home, I found my boxing wraps and headed for the garage to let off some steam. My boxing bag hung about two and a half feet off the ground, three inches below my waistline. A playlist, a mix of heavy rock, metal and hip-hop – or what Rosalie called "that horrible loud noise" – played loudly on my stereo.

I was concentrating so hard on focusing all of my energy into beating the shit out of my boxing bag that I didn't see Jake when he found me twenty minutes later. I was hot and sweaty; my hair was wet, as was my tank top. In his hand he clutched a camcorder, and I was horrified to see that the red light was on. Jake was really into filming. He and his friends from the reservation were constantly recording each other doing stupid and reckless things. He hoped to make a movie of it all.

"Ugh," I grunted as I swung my leg into the bag, managing to hit the middle of the bag with my foot.

"Nice kick, Bells!" Jake complimented me. "Don't stop! You're doing great!"

"What the fuck do you think you're doing. Turn that shit off!" I ordered him.

"No way! This is good!" He held the camera up trying to film me; I ducked behind the bag, avoiding him. "Oh, Bells, don't be shy."

"I'm not being shy, I just don't want to be seen looking like this on video!" I protested. He was chasing me around the bag, and I was attempting to evade him. "Turn it off!"

"Since when did you care what you look like?"

"Jake, I swear to God, turn it off or I will break your balls." Threats were a tactic I turned to quickly when it came to Jacob Black. Yet he rarely listened to my warnings.

"Aw geez, you are no fun." He sighed and flicked a button on his camera, and peeking around the boxing bag I found that the red light had been switched off.

"Thanks for ruining my session," I grumbled, walking over to the stereo and yanking my iPod out of its dock.

"Don't sweat it." Jake grinned lazily at me. "Though, it's a bit late for that." His eyes swept down my body. I rolled my eyes.

"What are you doing here, you ass? I mean, apart from filming me like some sick pervert."

"Bella, that really hurts!"

"Get over yourself." I started to untie my wraps from around my fists. I preferred to use them over the bulky punching gloves, even if it meant I occasionally cut my knuckles.

"I wanted to find out if you wanted to come down to the rez for a bit," Jake said.

"What, so I can watch you and your goons fall over each other?" I asked with a snarky tone to my voice. He grinned, still waiting for an answer. "I don't know, Jake. I have an assignment."

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, Bella, you never hang out with me anymore, you're always doing your stupid homework!"

I sighed. "Okay, fine. I guess I could come down for a little bit."

Jake jumped up and down and clapped his hands. "Yay!"

I punched him in the shoulder. "You're such a spaz." He wasn't really, I knew he was screwing around, and he could be kind of funny sometimes. But mostly he was annoying.

I jumped into the shower quickly to freshen up and wrote a note for Charlie letting him know that I was down at the reservation and wouldn't be home for dinner, then followed Jacob to La Push in my truck.

We didn't get to hang out very often because I was always studying. Jake didn't care as much for his studies as I did. As far as he was concerned, he would be happy living in Forks for the rest of his existence.

_Ugh._

We pulled up outside his house and he hopped out. I clambered out of my truck and jumped down. Since there was a bit of height from the driver's seat and the ground as my truck was so high off the ground, I stumbled a little but managed to get my balance quickly.

"I want to show you something!" Jake called over his shoulder, already halfway to the double car garage that had been built in the backyard. I followed; a light mist of rain had started to fall, not that it mattered as my hair was already wet from my shower.

"Tada!" Jacob announced with jazz hands. I raised an eyebrow; he could seriously act gay for a guy who claimed he did girls.

I looked past him to see that his latest car project was no longer in pieces around the garage and appeared to be in the hood of the car. It was actually Jess's car – she'd bought it real cheap and a week after driving it around it had broken down. She'd begged Jacob to fix it for her, and he'd finally agreed.

"Wait!" he dug into the pocket of his jeans and fished out a set of keys. He ran to the driver's seat and placed it into the key ignition. I watched as he turned it and it whirred to life. It sounded a little clunky but otherwise it seemed to be going well.

"Wow! Good job, Jake. Jess will be stoked!" He grinned and ran a hand through his hair.

"Cool, want to walk down to First Beach?" Jacob had turned off the ignition and was already out the door. Now that I'd seen his latest accomplishment, he was ready to move onto the next activity.

"Sure." Despite the fact that it _was_ raining and we'd probably die of pneumonia, as it was pretty cold, I didn't mind the walk as it was exercise and my workout had been cut short.

"So what's new with you?" I said, making conversation as we fell into step.

"School, fixing cars, hanging with Quil and Embry, you know, same old. Got a bitch of an assignment for English. You?"

"Yeah, I got this stupid Bio assignment and have to work with my retarded Bio partner on it."

"I'm sure he's not that bad. Just because you work ten times harder than everyone else, you're so harsh in your judgments of others. The amount of work you do is just not normal."

"Yeah, well that's easy for you to say," I countered, feeling defensive. "You're happy enough to live in this small town for the rest of your life. I want to go somewhere and be somebody."

"Geez Bells, I want to be somebody too. I'm sure everybody wants to _be_ somebody. I'm thinking about taking up mechanics, you know?" Jake looked hurt by what I'd said, and I felt a twinge of guilt for it but refused to say anything more on it.

"Well, that'd be good. You're great at working with your hands on that kind of thing. I know you've fixed my truck enough times that she should be dead by now, but she still runs beautifully." Jake smiled at me; he knew this was my way of saying sorry for my previous bitchy statement.

"What's the news on the bike?" Jake changed the subject.

I sighed. I was slowly, very slowly, saving my money for the bike I wanted. "I called the guy and asked him what he wanted for it. He told me he wanted $3,000 and said that was the lowest he'd be willing to go. I don't think anyone's in the buying market right now. It's been advertised online for a month, and he's already lowered the price. I think I'll call him again in a few days to see if he'd be willing to hold it for me."

Jake was sympathetic as I gave him the update. "Don't worry, Bells, you'll get there. And if it does get sold, it's no big deal; there are others like it. You just need to keep your eyes open."

"But not in that good of condition! It's so beautiful."

"Look who's here!" We'd arrived at the beach and I looked up to see Jake's Quileute friends already hanging around. Embry had seen us and had announced our arrival.

I stopped dead in my tracks as I approached, seeing Paul (another of Jake's friends) running up the beach toward me. "Oh no," I said and put out a hand. As if that could stop him. "Don't, don't," I begged, but my pleading was fruitless.

The air was knocked out of me as Paul surrounded me in his vice like bear hug and threw me over his shoulder and continued to run with me.

"Put me down, you piece of shit. I fucking swear I'll kill you if you don't put me down this instant!" I pounded my hands against his back.

"Aw, come on, Bells," Paul said as he started to spin me around and around. I was getting dizzy.

"Put me down!" I screeched. I was getting motion sickness.

Paul started toward the edge of the water, and I could hear the other guys cackling with laughter. Glancing up, I could see Jacob was doubled over and shaking. He was laughing so hard. "Okay, Bells, I'll put you down."

"I swear to God, you boner riding, ass fucker… If you dump me in that water… It's too cold dickhead… just don't! I swear to God. Paul!" I started pounding on his back. _Why the fuck didn't my kickboxing skills come in handy when I was slung over the shoulder of a guy twice my size?_ "I will rip your balls off with my bare hands."

"Kinky, Bella." I thrashed around; I really did not want to feel that cold water.

"Paul, this is so uncalled for, why are you doing this?" He was standing at the edge of the beach now. If he tossed me in, I wouldn't get soaked, but I'd get wet and cold enough that it would _not_ be fun.

"You know why."

"Oh my God! Are you still not over that stupid prank? You're a fucking moron!"

"I heard it had been all your idea, Bella. I want you to say sorry."

I snorted. "Well of course it was my idea, you think any of those idiots could think up something like that? And no, I'm not going to say sorry. Put me down, you ass!"

The prank in question had actually been pretty good, if I did say so myself. Quil had called Paul on an unknown number and had faked an accent, then proceeded to tell him that he'd seen Paul's message in the boys' toilets at the community hall, and that he was interested in meeting Paul.

Paul had been so freaked out he'd yelled down the phone, not knowing it was actually Quil who had been trying so hard not to crack up laughing. Paul was obsessed for days. When Paul had found out about the whole prank, he'd been furious. Fortunately, he got over it, or at least I thought he had until he'd seen me.

"Please," I begged. "Just put me down, you won't regret it. I promise not to insult you for a month." I was still squirming in Paul's arms, but he had a death grip on me. There was no chance I'd get away.

"Hmm," he considered. "I'm willing to make a bet that you can't not insult me for a month." I was in no position to bargain with this. He was wearing down; I just needed to convince Paul that it was a good idea to set me down on dry land.

"Okay, deal. Name your stake. I'll agree. Just put me down."

"One month, you can't insult me. Not even non-colorful insults. You have to say nice things. If you lose, you have to give me a formal apology in front of all the guys and one in writing too." It sounded as though he'd already thought this through.

"And if you lose, you have to admit that I'm better than you." My blood was pouring into my head, and I was anxious to be let down.

"Hah! Deal." Paul laughed then put me down on my feet. I stumbled and tried to gain balance; however, I was relieved to feel the blood drain back into my body. It took me only a few moments to regain focus. Paul was grinning down at me, obviously pleased with himself.

"Hey, Paul?" I asked him.

"What?" He frowned; my smile must've looked a little too innocent for his liking.

I landed my right hook in his gut. He doubled over in pain immediately, and I grinned.

"You didn't say anything about me using you as my new punching bag."

"All right, all right. Geez," Paul said, grumbling. I watched for a while as Jacob and his friends set up the large bike ramp that they'd built. Their plan was to ride their bikes up it, do a flip at the end, and then land into the water. I got bored of it pretty soon and announced that I was leaving.

School was once again a non-event. I was beginning to relish the days when I could break my day up by breaking faces, but Charlie wouldn't like that.

Edward was already sitting at our table when I arrived for the second to last period of the day, Biology. He smirked at me as I settled myself down at our desk. "No huge pile of books today, I see," he said. I'd managed to drop them off at my locker before class had started. I refused to look at him; I was not going to let him affect me.

I managed to keep my distance and maintain my indifference for the remainder of the period. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Edward looking at me with an amused expression on his face.

"What," I hissed finally, exasperated at his staring.

He laughed. "You look constipated, or something. You look like you're trying really hard to concentrate on something."

I scowled. "I'm not constipated you ass wipe. You just smell really bad, and I'm trying to hold my breath. You should really take a shower."

"Hah, okay." Edward was laughing. He was so infuriating! "So, still on for this afternoon I take it? That is, unless you prefer me to have that shower." He raised one eyebrow and smirked.

_Fuck, that smirk._ It was doing strange things in my stomach.

I was actually really curious to see the books that Dr. Cullen had in his house that related to this subject, and, along with Edward's notes that he'd made on the texts he already had at his house, I was sure we could make some serious headway.

"No, we're fine. I'll follow you to your house after last period."

"I don't have my car today, but I don't mind riding with you."

Which is what I found myself doing once the last bell had rung for the day. Edward was standing by my truck, eyeing it with what looked like disdain.

"You really drive this hunk of junk?" he asked me.

"Don't hate on the truck, Cullen."

He laughed as I settled myself behind the driver's seat. Once we were both secured by seatbelts, I started the truck and began to make my way to his house. Since our town was small, everyone knew the general area where people lived. Once I reached Edward's block, the only thing he had to do was point out his specific house to me.

And I almost drove up the curb when I saw it.

**End note: Thanks for reading; I hope you liked this chapter. If you could leave a review and let me know you liked it that would totally make my day.**

**Thanks!**


End file.
